Hatty’s Reading Corner

3^rd August 2025

Hi Ramblers,

How are you? I am good thank you.

I wanted to just say that today’s book choice was made before everything came out about the author, with the release of the film. Having said that it took me a while to decide if I should go ahead and chat about it. However, I have had this blog laid out in my head for a while and I still want to share it with you. So, here goes…

I want to take you back to June-July 2024. When I went on a beautiful holiday to a wonderful place called Claire’s Place in Devon. Nicki and I went with a very precious friend, Cory. We made some very special memories I will always keep safe.

It’s such a shame that the house we stayed in has been knocked down and that Claire’s Place in Devon has had to close. It’s so rare to find a fully accessible place to go and stay. It had all the equipment we needed; hoists, profile beds, a bath and a swimming pool, to name just a few things. Claire’s Place closed in December last year. Its founder was the daughter of author A. A. Milne,  Claire lived with a disability and painted.

Claire’s Place will always be a happy place for me. The best week I had in the year of 2024. Thank you Ronchetti, and your fab family. I will always remember that time with a smile.

Do you want to see some pictures?

Oh, go on then.

We went swimming almost every day. Here’s mw rocking my swimming costume.
 

Nicki and I swimming

Me in the water on my throne. It was so good for my hip. I really want swim again.

I really loved that bath. I hadn’t had one since Treloars. It was bliss!

One of my breakfasts. It was yummy!

Cory and I in the pub

Us watching the sunset with Cory’s brother Ben and Pudding on the grass

Puds and I in Budleigh Salteton

Me and Puds hung out most mornings

Talking of chilling! Now you can see where I got the idea for the chair in my flat! Ultimate chill time.

Thank you for the games nights and the fun guys. It was amazing.

Now from a holiday on a major section of the South West Coast Path, Budleigh Salterton, to a couple who walk the South West Coast Path from Minehead to Poole. However you choose to see The Salt Path, it is still a good story.

Review

Author: Raynor Winn

Book: The Salt Path

Publishing House: Penguin Random House

Imprint: Michael Joseph

Ways of reading: Paperback/Audiobook

Started reading: 27^th May 2025

Finished reading: 5^th June 2025

Original read rating: *****

Read rating today: ***

Genre: When I first read this I thought it was a Memoir but now, given all the controversy around Raynor Winn, I am unsure what the story comes under.

First published: 25^th September 2018

Original language: English

Recommended by: Mum

Number of pages: 274

Dedication

To my beautiful mum, thank you for teaching me how to put one foot in front of the other, when things get tough. Thank you as well for showing me the beauty in nature, I appreciate it a lot more now I’m an adult!

When I first read The Salt Path I thought it was an extremely powerful book about the healing force of nature. However, my feelings towards the story are now very mixed. As I said above, I read it just before the film was released., I don’t know what to think as everything I was real has been revealed to be a lie. I think it would have been far easier to accept the story if the real Raynor Winn, that’s not even her name, had put, ‘Based on true events’, or something along those lines at the start. She may not have gotten into such hot water then. It raises so many questions, How much of the walk did she and her husband do, if any? What happened to the home they left? Were they actually homeless? Why did Winn lie about the people they met? If they actually did meet the couple when did they meet them? Is her husband sick? I want to shake her and say why did you do it?

There has been so much speculation in the news and the newspapers about The Salt Path and its validity that I feel sorry for Winn, now in the library we struggle to place it under a genre, is it Memoir, Travel, Fiction, Non-Fiction, there has also been a major drop in reservations. How did it go from flying off bookshelves to barely being noticed? All because Winn didn’t make it clear that she was writing a story based on a walk she may or may not have completed.

Having said that, I think there is a beautiful section that sums up the South West Coast Path and the nature you encounter if you do walk or visit the places on the Path.

‘It’s touched you, it’s written all over you; you’ve felt the hand of nature. It won’t leave you now. You’re salted.’

Nature never leaves us when we spend time outdoors. It has its very own path it wants us to take.

After all the things that been coming out about the book, I was really intrigued to watch the film. I was very underwhelmed. It promised the viewer so much, stunning scenery, good story, hope, emotions. The acting from Gillian Anderson and Jason Isaacs was raw and captivating at times. However, the biggest thing that let this down was having no sense of where the characters were on the path. There just seemed to be an assumption that we would know where they were, the amount of miles they had walked was not enough. If we recognized a landmark we were lucky. Where was the end of Coast Path and Dorset please? So, nice places, but where are we? I felt like I was watching an amateur documentary with bits missing. When Raynor would say, ‘we are here.’ where’s here?

In the book there is a map which we have done with in the film. It felt very disjointed, which I suppose adds to the lies that were told

In conclusion then, nature is key to the book but we don’t know what to believe about the people who supposedly walked from Minehead to Poole, the South West Coast Path. The narrative is about putting one foot in front of the other and facing your fears but the message of that is now lost in a web of controversy.

Let me know what you think in the comments.

 I hope you enjoyed today’s chat. Next time I see you, we will be going on a Voyage with book three of Outlander. See you soon ready to set sail!

Love

Hatts

Xxx